Dealing With Stress

The adaptive responses to
demands or the adaptive condition of unsatisfied needs.Stress is an imbalance or disharmony in the
natural orderliness we seek.It results
in behavioral and/or physiological symptoms that may impair one's functioning
and possibly lead to inappropriate behavior such as abuse.

The
kind of stress healthcare professionals need to be attentive to is the stress
resulting from an ongoing problem.Temporary stress, while unpleasant, usually can be
handled well by the individual.If not resolved, situational stress may mushroom from a temporary
condition to a long-term problem.Ongoing stress is different because there is no relief from it.As it continues day after day, the individuals ability to cope diminishes to the point where he
loses sense of control.It is much like
the tales told of the ancient Chinese water torture test.One, two, three slow drops of water in a
pattern an individual can deal with, but 1000, 5000, even 10000 will cause
anyone to breakdown emotionally. Each individual has a limit
to their coping abilities.

Recognizing
the symptoms of stress is essential to resolving the problem.One or two symptoms may not indicate serious
stress.Stress can be situational; that is a response to a specific situation that will shortly go
away.The person may be just
having a bad day because of physical discomfort.Do not immediately come to
the conclusion that the individual is experiencing stress that requires
intervention.The easy course of action
for a supervisor or anyone would be to ignore the problem, rationalizing it as
the individuals private concern.But that is not an
acceptable view because the individual is an employee whose behavior affects
his coworkers and the healthcare center's patients.There can be serious job performance
problems.

Behavioral Symptoms of Stress

Personal BehaviorsWork-Related
Behaviors

Irritability,
anger- Taking more sick time

Inappropriate laughter - More frequent tardiness

Depression - Increased
absenteeism

Impatience, agitationSarcasm,
- bad attitude

Anxiety - Decreased
productivity

Moodiness - Unwillingness
to help others

Inaction - Patient
abuse

Decreased self-esteem - Lack of
discretion in public relations

Increased drinking - Forgetfulness

Blaming others - Lack
of attention to details

Physiological Symptoms of Stress

Lump in throat,Insomnia

Tightness
in chest,Poor
appetite

Shortness
of breath,Hypertension

Upset
stomach, ulcersFatigue

Headaches, Nervousness

Increased
heart rate, Diarrhea

Nausea
and/or vomiting, Accident prone

Contributing Factors of
Stress

1.Personal Stress Factors: circumstances unique to the
individual.

Personal problems like poor health, family problems
with spouse, children or relatives, financial concerns, death of a close friend
or relative, a divorce, move to a new home, and having too much to do and not
enough time to do it are common sources of personal stress.For some individuals personal resources and
social supports are enough to help them deal with their problems.For others, professional
intervention/counseling is required.

2.Self-generated Stress
Factors: individual perceptional problems.

Two kinds of chronic
perceptional problems lead to stress: negative personal interpretations (nobody likes me) and
misinterpretations (always assuming the worst based on incomplete
knowledge).It takes a very mature,
insightful person to recognize that they have a perceptional problem that
contributes to their stress.Professional help is usually required.

3.System-generated Stress Factors: from the
environment.

In a health care setting
there are many factors that can create stress.These include: emotional demands working with the elderly and
chronically ill, personnel shortages that increase the work load for those
present at their jobs and an increase in demands for working overtime, the
physical demands of the job, change in personnel or management, and unpleasant
personal relationships at work.
Supportive management is the key for dealing with
this type of stress.

a)Communicate
any type of changes so the employee understands what is happening and why.

b)Introduce new
employees, orient them to the facility, and make sure they possess the skills
and knowledge to do their jobs effectively.

c)Conduct exit
interviews routinely to determine if terminating employees are leaving because
of work related stress.

d)In scheduling,
make sure the patient care load is distributed fairly,
so that each employee has a mix of easy-to-care-for and more demanding
patients.Make sure each employee is
aware of this process so that no employee sees himself
or herself as unfairly assigned or is, in fact, given an unfair workload.

e)Encourage
employees to express their concerns before they grow into larger problems.

f)Evaluate alternative ways to schedule and assign
work, such as split shifts or CNA's assigned to specialize in certain tasks or
duties.

g)Consider
floating assignments when employees are having difficulty caring for a specific
group of patients, such as the terminally ill, unusually demanding, or
physically abusive.This allows all
employees an equal break from the emotional and physical demands of caring for
these types of patients.

h)Seek job
satisfaction information through periodic, anonymous employee surveys.Identify responses that indicate areas that
may lead to or are causing employee stress.

i)Promote personal development to all employees.

Job Stress

A cluster of symptoms,
including emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, or a desire to withdraw from
people, and reduced accomplishment (working harder and harder while
accomplishing less and less).Job stress
is effected by other significant factors including
obsessive-compulsive or perfectionistic personality traits and bitterness or
unresolved anger.

Warning Signs that an Individual is Approaching Job Stress

The
individual:

gripes more and more and enjoys it less and less;

can't stand people;

withdraws;

feels like the school bus driver who said, "I love
my bus; I like my route, but I hate every single student who rides my bus";

has trouble separating people from their
performance, especially if no one's performance matches up to their rigorous
standards;

is experiencing drug or alcohol abuse;

has had a major blowup---yelling at people or
collapsing in tears;

or has felt paralyzed when
you needed to take action.

Warning Signs that an Individual is Experiencing
Acute Job Stress

The individual:

has experienced a coronary or other serious physical
problem;

is experiencing an emotional breakdown or suicidal
feelings;

is involved in acting-out behavior---an affair, an
arrest for driving while intoxicated;

indicates they are completely
overcome by exhaustion or uncontrollable anger.